Queensland's Defence

Queensland's defence was filed on 26 February 1985. In essence, it disputed the extent to which the Meriam people had continuously and exclusively enjoyed rights in the islands and denied that there was any legal foundation for the native title rights asserted by the plaintiffs. If such native title rights had ever existed, Queensland insisted that they had not survived the 1879 annexation of the Islands.

Keywords: annexation, Meriam Mer, native title, plaintiffs, Queensland Government, 1985

Author: Kenna, Jonathan